


The One Before It Gets Awkward

by 17495



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, thasmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:40:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25361782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/17495/pseuds/17495
Summary: The Doctor has to show up again somehow, might as well be like this.  Thasmin generally.  Standard disclaimers apply.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Kudos: 11





	The One Before It Gets Awkward

Yasmin Khan woke up with a sigh and turned off her alarm. She rolled on her back and looked at the ceiling and felt empty inside. “Two hundred days,” she thought. “Two hundred days without The Doctor.” She swung her feet over the side of her bed and got ready for work.

All day, every day, Yaz went to work. She settled parking disputes and traffic accidents, took reports for stolen items and listened to peoples' complaints. All day, every day, Yaz fought the urge to scream. She thought she might go mad.

Graham and Ryan met her after work several days a week. She knew they were trying to help her cope. Yaz didn’t want help coping; she wanted help finding The Doctor. She didn’t believe that The Doctor could have simply ceased to exist. If anyone could somehow figure out a way to get out of a suicide mission without actually dying, it was her. And so Yaz spent all of her time on the lookout for a flash of blonde hair, or a blue police box, or the swish of a sky-blue coat with lots of pockets. She combed news reports for suspicious activity that would likely involve aliens or time travel, and used her days off to travel to likely hot spots. For 200 days, Yaz searched. Today would be no different.

With a last look around, she stopped and read the poem she’d written last night while trying to fall asleep.

Rain came in through the window  
Last night  
Maybe longer than that  
I didn’t notice  
I never do  
Until it’s too late and all I see are the places where you aren’t  
Swept from my life like the soot from the street  
Making black trails down my wall

“That’s pretty emo,” she thought to herself. She crumpled up the paper and shoved it in her jacket pocket. Poems were not helpful. Poems were self-indulgent. She took a steadying breath and stepped out into the world once again.

Four hours into her shift, it happened. The Daleks invaded. Yaz couldn’t even take in the whole scene. Just explosions and Daleks and people getting vaporized, running and yelling. Later, when she and Graham and Ryan tried to reconstruct the battle, there was only one thing she could remember: the moment she looked up and saw, across the street, a long-hoped-for flash of bright blonde hair and sky blue coat, ushering people to safety. The Doctor spun around and looked directly at Yaz. Time stopped. Then another explosion, and The Doctor took off running. As Yaz tried to follow, a hand grabbed the back of her jacket and the voice of Captain Jack Harkness rang out, “Wait!”

“What do you mean, wait? She’s here! I have to help her!”  
“You will. By coming with me and getting Graham and Ryan to the TARDIS. She needs you three safe so she can concentrate.”

Somehow, improbably, Graham and Ryan were just then turning the corner. Jack shepherded them all to the TARDIS and they waited. And waited. Finally, just as Graham was about to suggest that he make a pot of tea, the door opened. The Doctor walked in. Graham and Ryan and Jack crowded around her, all talking at once. Yaz was rooted to the spot. The Doctor’s eyes caught hers and held them. Yaz felt every emotion all at once. She felt her nose start to tingle. Tears pricked at her eyes. All of a sudden, Yaz realized that she was angry. “Of all the things to be,” she thought to herself. As a tear fought its way over her bottom eyelid, Yaz turned and fled into the safety of the TARDIS.


End file.
